# Ableton Live 12 — Original Melodic Techno Production Templates

This pack contains 15 original, five-minute melodic-techno production starters. The named artists in the request were treated only as broad genre references; no melodies, recordings, presets, project files, or signature sound designs were copied or reverse-engineered.

## Website

Browse and download the complete pack at:

https://ian-ableton-melodic-techno.pages.dev

## What Is Included

Each template folder contains:

- `Full_Arrangement.mid` — Type 1 multitrack MIDI with drums, sub, mid bass, chords, pluck, arp, lead, atmospheric cues, tempo, and section markers.
- `MIDI_Stems/` — one full-length MIDI file per track.
- `BUILD_SHEET.md` — tempo, key, mood, exact five-minute arrangement, and production workflow.
- `RACKS_AND_ROUTING.md` — stock-device Instrument Rack, sub, mid-bass, pluck, drum, low-end, return, and sidechain recipes.

The pack also includes `template_catalog.json`, a generator, an installer, and a ZIP archive.

## Important Limitation

Native Ableton `.als` and `.adg` files must be created and saved by Ableton Live. Ableton Live 12 was not installed in the generation environment, so this repository does not pretend that generated XML or renamed files are valid Live Sets. The included MIDI and build sheets are designed to create reliable native templates inside Live in a few minutes.

## Using the Templates After Cloning

### 1. Open the pack

From the cloned repository:

```bash
cd ian-ai-playground/music-production/ableton-live-12-melodic-techno
```

Browse `templates/`, or open `index.html` to use the visual catalog.

### 2. Optionally install the construction kits

On macOS:

```bash
./install_to_user_library.sh
```

This copies the pack to:

```text
~/Music/Ableton/User Library/Templates/Melodic Techno Starters
```

You can also leave the files in the repository and drag them into Live from Finder.

### 3. Choose a starter

For example:

```text
templates/01-noir-pulse/
```

Read its `BUILD_SHEET.md` for the BPM, key, mood, arrangement sections, and bar numbers.

### 4. Import the five-minute arrangement

1. Open a blank Ableton Live 12 Set.
2. Switch to **Arrangement View**.
3. Set the tempo shown in the selected `BUILD_SHEET.md`.
4. Drag `Full_Arrangement.mid` into the empty Arrangement area.
5. Accept the embedded tempo if Live offers to import it.

The multitrack MIDI should create:

- Kick
- Clap
- Closed Hat
- Open Hat
- Percussion
- Sub Bass
- Mid Bass
- Chords
- Pluck
- Arp
- Lead
- Atmos Cue

If Live does not separate the multitrack file as expected, create individual MIDI tracks and drag in the corresponding files from `MIDI_Stems/`.

### 5. Organize the tracks

Create this group structure:

```text
DRUMS
  Kick
  Clap
  Closed Hat
  Open Hat
  Percussion

BASS
  Sub Bass
  Mid Bass

MUSIC
  Chords
  Pluck
  Arp
  Lead

ATMOS + FX
  Atmos Cue
```

Create three return tracks:

- `SHORT ROOM`
- `LONG SPACE`
- `TEMPO DELAY`

### 6. Add stock instruments and Racks

Follow `RACKS_AND_ROUTING.md`. Recommended starting chains:

- **Sub Bass:** Operator or Drift → EQ Eight → Saturator → Utility → Compressor
- **Mid Bass:** two-chain Instrument Rack using Drift, Wavetable, Meld, or Operator
- **Chords:** Core, Air, and Movement chains
- **Pluck:** Body, Transient, and Tail chains
- **Arp/Lead:** Center, Wide, and optional Octave chains
- **Drums:** Drum Rack or separate Simpler tracks

The MIDI supplies the composition and arrangement; select or design the actual sounds.

### 7. Configure ghost-trigger sidechain routing

1. Create a MIDI track named `SC GHOST`.
2. Add a short kick or Operator click.
3. Program quarter notes throughout the arrangement.
4. Disable its Main output or route it to **Sends Only**.
5. Enable the Compressor sidechain on Sub Bass, Mid Bass, Chords, Pluck, Arp/Lead, and the long-reverb return.
6. Select `SC GHOST` as the sidechain source.

Use stronger reduction on the sub, medium reduction on the mid-bass, and lighter ducking on melodic and reverb layers.

### 8. Add Arrangement locators

Use the selected `BUILD_SHEET.md` to add:

1. Intro Atmosphere
2. Groove Introduction
3. Bass Establishment
4. Theme A
5. Breakdown
6. Build
7. Peak Theme
8. Release
9. DJ Outro

Each MIDI arrangement ends at exactly five minutes. Depending on its BPM, the final section may finish on a partial bar.

### 9. Replace the placeholders

- Choose your kick, clap, hats, and percussion samples.
- Design the sub before balancing the mid-bass.
- Replace Atmos Cue notes with impacts, noise, textures, and risers.
- Adjust octaves to suit your selected patches.
- Automate Rack macros, filters, sends, delay, density, and width between sections.
- Add at least one eight-bar variation to each major phrase.

### 10. Save a native Live Template Set

1. Use **Collect All and Save** if you added samples.
2. Choose **File → Save Live Set as Template**.
3. Name it after the starter, such as `Noir Pulse – Melodic Techno`.

Opening that saved Template Set later creates a new untitled project ready for production.

For the shortest path, begin with `01-noir-pulse`, import `Full_Arrangement.mid`, build the Sub Bass and Mid Bass racks, configure `SC GHOST`, replace the drums, and save the result as your first native template.

## Template Palette

| # | Template | Production character |
| ---: | --- | --- |
| 1 | Noir Pulse | Dark, restrained, hypnotic |
| 2 | Celestial Tension | Cinematic, spacious, emotional |
| 3 | Ritual Drive | Percussive, ritualistic, driving |
| 4 | Neon Horizon | Warm, hopeful, late-night |
| 5 | Gravity Well | Heavy, mechanical, focused |
| 6 | Glass Cathedral | Luminous, dramatic, architectural |
| 7 | Kinetic Bloom | Organic, propulsive, uplifting |
| 8 | Obsidian Signal | Shadowy, tense, futuristic |
| 9 | Solar Echo | Open, emotional, festival-scale |
| 10 | Fractured Orbit | Angular, urgent, high-energy |
| 11 | Velvet Machine | Smooth, soulful, understated |
| 12 | Deep Meridian | Deep, physical, slowly evolving |
| 13 | Chrome Memory | Melancholic, metallic, dramatic |
| 14 | Tidal Code | Fluid, progressive, expansive |
| 15 | Afterimage | Intimate, bittersweet, peak-time |

## Live 12 Design

The pack uses standard Live concepts: Template Sets in the User Library, Instrument and Audio Effect Racks, parallel chains, Arrangement locators, return tracks, and sidechain routing. See the current Ableton Live 12 manual before converting the construction kits into personal templates.